Adulterated Cooking Gas Alert

Hi Aunty Eya and fellow bloggers, I want to share an information with you all, I received a BB broadcast message a while back warning of an adulterated cooking gas in town, sincerely I shrugged it off as one of the numerous messages being sent, I didn't even read past the first few lines. All of a sudden a friend's house was engulfed in fire, apparently the cooking gas had exploded. The whole furniture, documents, valuables as lost, the sad part was the house help who was in the kitchen when it happened, she sustained serious burns and after struggling for some days in the hospital she passed on. Then I read that a lady while lighting her gas cooker, the thing exploded in her face and till today her face is badly disfigured. I am not sure if there was a connection between the BB broadcast and this incident but the coincidence was just too much. I decided to learn a lesson from this incident. 1. Anytime we get a BB broadcast message let us not be too fast in dismissing it, rather read it and make necessary research if possible to test the veracity of the message, after all its always best to err on the side of caution. 2. I decided to research on this gas explosion, and I will briefly state my conclusions, however if there is anything I might say that is wrong I stand to be corrected and will welcome other ideas from those that are enlightened in this field.I found out that Nigerian gas merchants have started sourcing for gas from Niger, because it is cheaper than that obtained from NLNG plant. This gas has a higher pressure compared to the one from NLNG it also has highly inflammable content of propane gas instead of the regular butane, and this is far above that specified for home use. I found out that generally cooking gas is odourless LPG is simply odourised as a measure of safety. It was observed that this particular cooking gas has a more offensive smell, the major feature of this gas is that it emits STAG ( red flame instead of the blue flame) and it gets the pots dirty unlike butane mixture of LPG that has the blue flame. Also because of the high pressure in this gas, once it is on and a match stick is struck you will hear a voooooommmmm sound and the burner will be burning furiously.Then leakage can come through either the valve, regulator, connecting hose, or the cooking burner. Once we perceive leakage please immediately stop all sources of ignition and trace the source of the leakage, if you cannot discover it please call a gas technician. Also Cylinders also have an expiration date, the Cylinder may look new but weaken in integrity as a result of over use. So check yours if expired discard it and when getting a new one ask for the expiry date so you don't end up buying a refurbished one. Also let us refill our Cylinders at the appropriate filling plants examples include Total, Oando this list is not exhaustive but make sure it is a good outlet that doesn't sell fake, not road side shops oooooo. Change your Cylinder valves at regular intervals, inspect the gas pipe and hose at regular intervals. Most importantly keep the Cylinder outside the kitchen so that even when there is leakage, the gas will be expelled into the atmosphere( also make sure you chain the Cylinder to a gate or door because mine was stolen some days back when i kept it outside). Get an air expeller in your kitchen( really dont know what this one is, please anyone that does can shed more light). Also fix the safety device called Automatic Gas Shutter(AGS) between your regulator and hose to protect and shut off gas supply once danger is sensed. Also for the Bachelors and Students that use camp cooking gas, that cannot be kept outside, make sure you buy good one and refill from authorized gas merchants, preferably Total or Oando. Let us take time to educate our house helps, Sisters, Wives, Mothers, Grandmothers and let the little kids know that it is a taboo to turn on the burner, and they should not be left alone in the kitchen as they will want to play with the beautiful knobs. Finally may God's protection be with us and may his angels continue to watch over us and our households, Amen. Deborah Bala

An air expeller is like a little fan/vent installed in the kitchen/bathroom walls that take out offensive/excessive heat or smell while cooking or taking a dump. Its usually done to ease ventilation in the kitchen especially

Debby for us that leaves upstairs how can we keep our gas? Tryn to see how to connect d gas cylinder outside but no feasible solution.my help was cookn on one and left d oda on witout lightning if not dat my nose were fast enuff to get d smell on tym.. I always warn her on d implication on not bin very careful dey seem to tk evrytin for granted. God will continue to protect all of us IJN.

i also live upstairs but i have a balcony at the back of my house, so that is where i put mine. if there is no place to put outside, just continue to take necessary precaution. and educate d house help well, let her know that it is serious and deadly to be nonchalant about gas.